Hi Reader,

At this past weekend's show, Chloe’s trainer texted me before her second jumper division: “We need hoof oil and a brush.”

First, I giggled.

She’s always been a hunter coach, and while she’s jumped headfirst into the jumper world with Phoebe (the best pony ever!) and Chloe, she hasn’t quite shaken the fundamentals of 'hunter-ing' - mainly, show up looking your best. Honestly, I kind of love it.

When I went to the gate, she laughingly said 'Moms are in charge of the grooming kit.'

🤷🏻‍♀️

My response: What exactly goes in a grooming kit??
​*And also - why not DADS?

Coming from jumpers, the only thing I made sure Chloe had ringside was water.

So this week, in keeping with my mantra of clear communication between mom and trainer, I texted to see what should go in a ringside grooming kit. Behold the list that is just 5 items shy of an entire tack trunk. 🤣

• Hard and soft brush - no clue what the difference is beyond the obvious, but I’ll pack both.
• Hoof pick - check.
• Tail brush - you're pushing it. If you lined up a dozen brushes in the barn aisle, I’d fail a horse mom pop quiz. Actually, that should be a game.
• Hoof polish - check, assuming she meant oil, not Armor Equestrian’s Glitter Hoof Polish​
• Fly spray - duh, I'm not a total newb.
• Rag for horse and rider - have you seen my daughter at a horse show? We're going to need a human-sized Shout stick to keep her clean.
• Small bucket with water - apparently for dirty bits, horse mouths, and boots. But am I really hauling around a bucket of water ringside? A fellow barn mom swears Wet Wipes are a good sub.
• Halter and lead rope - only if we have a break and the trailer is 1,000 miles away.
• Cooler for long rests in cold weather - I prefer hot chocolate, but OK.

By the end of our text exchange, we agreed it might be simpler to just wheel Chloe’s entire tack trunk to the ring.

I can't imagine a world in which this is the case, but I have to ask...are we missing anything?

🤷🏻‍♀️ Are We Supposed to Know This?

Each week, I'll share a question that we should all PROBABLY know, but likely don't. Meh. We'll figure it out together. I’ll share the answer in next week’s newsletter.

What is a martingale?

*Think you know it? Hit reply and tell me! I’ll give a shoutout and drop an Armor Equestrian sticker in the mail to one of the (surely many) correct answers. No googling allowed!

LAST WEEK'S QUESTION

What is a lope?

Congrats to Hannah H. on that correct answer!

I'll email you to snag your addresses to get a sticker in the mail to you soon!

👀 BTS: On the Road to Pony Finals

Next on my to-do list: figuring out what the heck the “zones” are and how the team competitions work.

I know Pony Finals has both individual and team classes, and they mention riders representing different zones, but beyond that, I’m totally clueless. What I do know is that it would be fun for Chloe to team up with some other local riders who are aiming for Finals too, even though HER focus right now is the individual competitions.

Adding “decode the team thing” to my to-do list!

📋 Weekly Roundup

• The podcast is coming!! The trailer is up on all podcast players, so pop over, give it a listen and then follow/subscribe so the first 3 episodes will magically appear in your app on September 2nd! Oh...and feel free to send it to a friend!
  ​Broke Horse Moms podcast​
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• I've shared before that Armor Equestrian is a partner of ours, mainly because I'm IRL friends with the Jens who run it, their products are soooo stinkin' fun, and they supply the fun stickers we send out for the 'Are We Supposed to Know This?' segment.
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  They had a ball glittering Phoebe this past weekend and, I'm not going to lie...the glitter has good show juju in it because this little pony jumped her way to Champ and Reserve. See the BTS video here AND use code BHM on the Armor Equestrian site for 15% off your order!! ​
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Until next time, trot on, mama! We got this!

xo,
Angie

​https://brokehorsemoms.com/​

PS - Missed a newsletter? See previous posts here.​